Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Dir. Stephen Daldry (2011)

Is it still too soon for a film about 9/11? That criticism was levied against Paul Greengrass's United 93 when it was released in 2006. In my mind, United 93 was a riveting and emotionally draining experience because it was handled in a realistic and even handed manner. The same cannot be said for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, a cloying and overly precious adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's 2005 book. The method in which the film tackles its subject matter with such saccharine sentimentalization shouldn't come as a surprise as the screenplay was penned by Eric Roth, who also adapted Forrest Gump and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Extremely Loud deals with similar themes to Foer's debut novel, Everything is Illuminated, which was also made into a film by actor/director Liev Schreiber. Both are idiosyncratic works dealing with a protagonist on a journey to learn about themselves and their family. In Illuminated, it was the author himself. In Extremely Loud, it is eleven-year old Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn). Oskar's parents had them tested for Asperger's Syndrome, but the results were inconclusive. He has a hard time finding his place in the world and carries a tambourine to soothe his anxieties.

Oskar's father, Thomas (Tom Hanks), seems to be the only one who understands him. He tasks his son with a series of scavenger hunts to assist the boy in interacting with the outside world. Thomas is killed in the terrorist attacks leaving Oskar desperate to find meaning in his death. Oskar's mother, Linda (Sandra Bullock), doesn't have the easy rapport with Oskar her husband did and struggles to cope.

One day, he rifles through his father's belongings and discovers a key inside an envelope marked with the word, "Black." Oskar decides to look up everyone with the last name of Black in the five boroughs believing this is a final message from his late father. Along the way, Oskar gets a sidekick in an elderly mute man (Max von Sydow), who is renting a room from Thomas's mother. Known only as The Renter, he communicates through a notepad and tattoos of the words, "Yes" and "No," on his hands.

Oskar's journey encapsulates New Yorkers from all walks of life and symbolizes the romanticized view of how the city and we as a country came together after the tragedy. For the most part, these scenes feel very contrived and truncated, a meaningful message lost as it is distilled into a series of montages. Very rarely are there moments of genuine emotion. Oskar's visit to the first name on his list is the most powerful sequence in the film, due in no small part to the presence of Viola Davis, who seems incapable of giving a bad performance. In Doubt, Davis was only in one substantial scene opposite Meryl Streep, yet still garnered high praise and an Oscar nomination. She again spins gold out of a minuscule role as Abby Black, a woman in the middle of a messy divorce. Her husband (Jeffrey Wright) is rushing out of the house when Oskar comes to visit.

Wright is also solid in his supporting role as is Max von Sydow as a character that is both cartoonishly eccentric and heartbreakingly bare. As Oskar's parents, Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock give fine performances, trading on their reputations for being so likable. Not faring so well is Thomas Horn, a young man discovered through his run on Teen Jeopardy. The entire film hinges on Horn, who's stilted line readings works well in short bursts to accentuate the character's detached nature. However, he is unable to handle large portions of dialogue. This is very problematic due to Oskar's continuous narration throughout the movie, a leftover remnant from the original novel.

No matter how hard they try, there is an aura of crassness that sullies whatever well meaning themes the filmmakers are attempting to portray. How can you not be revolted by the opening sequence featuring close-ups of Tom Hanks's body as plummets through the sky in slow motion? Another shot later on sees Hanks dropping out of the Tower and directly into the camera. In yet another scene, Oskar has printed out pictures from the internet of a body tumbling out of the building. He wonders if that was his father.

Director Stephen Daldry is responsible for three of the worst Best Picture nominees in recent memory, The Hours, The Reader, and now Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Released to coincide with the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Extremely Loud feels less like a soothing salve on a gaping wound and more like a band-aid ripped off your arm in the most painful manner.

Rating ** (*****)

Solomon Kane

Solomon Kane - Dir. Michael J. Bassett (2009)


Pulp writer Robert E. Howard’s most famous creation was Conan the Barbarian. Not quite as well-known is another of Howard’s characters, Solomon Kane. A Puritan living in the 16th century, the mysterious Kane vanquished evil in the name of God. He was clad in a dark cloak, wide-brimmed hat, and armed with a rapier and flintlock pistol. While Conan has received two films starring the current governor of California, Solomon Kane has yet to receive any cinematic attention. Until now, that is.

Writer/director Michael J. Bassett helms the first of a proposed trilogy of films nominally based on Howard’s stories. While Solomon Kane is supposedly an adaptation, it isn’t drawn from any specific tale. Bassett provides largely original material and sets the picture up as an origin story.

Solomon Kane (James Purefoy) is introduced as a pirate ruthlessly killing and pillaging anything in his path. Hunting for gold in North Africa, Kane is confronted by a demon that might as well be Satan’s debt collector. Told his soul has been damned by his evil ways, Kane repents and finds his way to a monastery in England in order to live a life of peace. One day, Kane is told by his brother monk to leave the temple and find his place in the world.

Traveling to his ancestral home in Devon, Kane comes across the Crowthorne family who are soon attacked by the forces of a sorcerer known as Malachi (Jason Flemyng). The family is brutally murdered and the daughter, Meredith (Rachel Hurd-Wood), is taken prisoner. Kane renounces his vow of peace and sets off to rescue Katherine and confront the past he has tried to run away from.

Working with a medium-sized budget, Bassett has crafted a slick production. However, the movie is severely hamstringed by a weak script. Bassett follows the current Hollywood predilection for reboots and origin stories. Any mystique found in the character of Solomon Kane is lost amidst a series of flashbacks to the man’s various childhood traumas. Thus, Kane has been diluted into another grizzled and generic superhero. Honestly, what’s wrong with a little mystery to the hero? Would Fistful of Dollars be improved by a 40-minute prologue revealing in excruciating detail the Man With No Name’s entire backstory?

Trivia Note: This isn’t the first time James Purefoy has worn a cloak and wide-brimmed hat. He was originally cast as the lead in V For Vendetta before departed in mid-production, being replaced by Hugo Weaving.

Rating: * ½

Shutter Island

Shutter Island - Dir. Martin Scorsese (2010)


Martin Scorsese.

That’s all you need to know. Emblazon that name on the marquee and you’ve got my ticket money. He’s tackled gritty crime films, Merchant-Ivory style drama, and documentaries. Scorsese delves into new territory with the gothic thriller, Shutter Island, based on the novel by Dennis Lehane whose novels Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone have also been adapted to film. Shutter Island can best be described as Samuel Fuller’s Shock Corridor by way of M. Night Shyamalan.

Scorsese collaborates with Leonardo DiCaprio for the fourth time. Still hanging on to his Departed Boston accent, Leo takes the lead as U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels. Along with partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), Daniels is sent to Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of a patient at Ashecliff, a former Civil War fort turned into an asylum for the criminally insane.

Daniels is still haunted by his service during World War II in which his unit liberated a concentration camp. Not to mention his wife (Michelle Williams) was killed in a fire caused by an arsonist who was once a patient at Ashecliff. Investigating further, he discovers clues leading to a deeper conspiracy involving the doctors experimenting on left-wing radicals.

There is no denying Scorsese’s abilities as a master filmmaker. He sets an uneasy mood almost immediately with a style that is a cross between noir and Hitchcock. Scorses heightens the creepy atmosphere by filling the supporting cast with several equally creepy actors. Really, nobody does creepy better than Jackie Earle Haley, Elias Koteas, and Max von Sydow.

Shutter Island essentially lives and dies by the twist ending. You either buy it or don’t. There’s no in between. Personally, I couldn’t. It was like the rug was pulled out from under me. Whatever I had invested in the film feels as if it had been a waste. Every other element of the picture is strong and Scorsese has created an uneasy, claustrophobic mood to the story, but the sharp left turn in the resolution undoes all the hard work.

Rating: **

Robin Hood

Robin Hood - Dir. Ridley Scott (2010)


”Rise and rise again until lambs become lions.”

Was there a dire need for yet another Robin Hood film? There have been dozens and dozens of iterations about the famed archer on film and television. One of the most well-regarded versions is The Adventures of Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn in a light-hearted, Technicolor adventure film. The garish color palette of the 1938 picture is in stark contrast to Robin and Marian with Sean Connery as an aging, world weary Robin Hood returning to England and his love Marian (Audrey Hepburn in her first film after a 9 year absence) who has since become a nun. A grimier and grounded approach was taken with Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves starring Kevin Costner as the blandest version of the title character. Despite Costner’s vanilla performance and sad attempt at a British accent, Prince of Thieves was buoyed by the mere presence of Morgan Freeman and a deliciously over-the-top Alan Rickman as the Sheriff of Notthingham. You can also toss Disney’s animated Robin Hood and Mel Brooks’ parody Robin Hood: Men in Tights into the mix.

So where does Ridley Scott’s vision of Robin Hood stack up against the competition? Even with a $200 million budget, this Robin Hood sinks to the bottom of the barrel.

Russell Crowe teams with Ridley Scott for the fifth time. They originally paired up in the historical epic Gladiator and surprisingly followed that up with the romantic comedy, A Good Year. Their collaboration continued with the gritty crime film, American Gangster, and the spy thriller, Body of Lies. Robin Hood is closest in spirit to Gladiator and acts as a pseudo-companion piece to Scott’s Crusades picture, Kingdom of Heaven. This is a down and dirty rendition with nary a buckle swashed.

The film kicks off during the tail end of the 12th century with Richard the Lionheart (Danny Huston) attempting to make his way back to England following the folly of the Third Crusade. King Richard is killed by an arrow through the neck while ransacking a French castle. Among the king’s army is a skilled bowman by the name of Robin Longstride (Crowe) who quickly deserts the battlefield with his friends Little John (Kevin Durand), Will Scarlet (Scott Grimes), and Alan A’Dayle (Alan Doyle). Meanwhile, Richard’s right hand man, Sir Robert of Loxley (Douglas Hodge) leads a small band of knights to return the king’s crown to England. They are ambushed by the evil Sir Godfrey (Mark Strong) who conspires with King Philip of France (Jonathan Zaccai) to weaken England with civil war.

Robin and his Merry Men (though they are never called as such) come across the aftermath. Donning the knight’s chain mail, Robin poses as Loxley upon his return to England. He arrives at Loxley’s estate where Robert’s father, Sir Walter (Max von Sydow), requests that he continue the masquerade much to the chagrin of Robert’s widow, the Lady Marian (Cate Blanchett). While Robin undertakes the charade, Godfrey brutally and relentlessly gathers taxes from the people under the orders of Richard’s brother, the petulant King John (Oscar Isaac), a near-copycat of Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus.

The main cast also includes: William Hurt as the royal regent William Marshal, Mark Addy as Friar Tuck, and Matthew Macfadyen as an utterly inept Sheriff of Nottingham.

If that sounds like a lot to digest, it’s only the appetizer. There is a helluva lot more to come during the film’s daunting two and a half hour runtime. Robin Hood’s biggest strength lies in the spectacular production values. Scott and cinematographer John Mathieson (who also first collaborated on Gladiator) have created a gorgeous looking film that captures the majesty of the English landscape belonging to royalty and the squalidness of the world of the lower classes. CGI is effectively used to lend an added layer of authenticity. The acting isn’t particularly noteworthy, but the actors are fine in their roles. Honestly, the majority of them are capable of performing these parts in their sleep.

The weak link of the movie lies solely in the story. The screenplay was originally written by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris who also wrote Kung Fu Panda and…ugh…Bulletproof Monk. Working under the title of Nottingham, the project was intended to portray Robin Hood as the villain while his arch-enemy, the Sheriff, would be shown in a more sympathetic light. Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential) was brought on board to rewrite the script. Tom Stoppard (Shakespeare in Love) was hired later on to perform script polishing while on-set. The filmmakers settled on telling the origin story of a character who has no definitive origin story. Thus, Scott has stripped Robin Hood of nearly everything that makes him Robin Hood.

The names and places may be the same, but the romance between Robin and Marian is only just blossoming. Robin doesn’t live in Sherwood Forest yet and he only robs from the rich and gives to the poor once. The film does postulate an interesting premise in making Robin, who has always been portrayed as a nobleman, a humble peasant and conning his way into the higher classes. However, that subplot is dropped soon after. See, Robin never knew his real father, but Sir Walter conveniently knew Daddy Longstride and reveals all to him. Oh, and Robin’s father apparently came up with the Magna Carta.

Therein lays another weak point in the script, the uneven hodgepodge of historical fact and fiction. Real-life figures and events feel shoehorned into the legends and myths of Robin Hood. The movie maintains a self-serious tone which is completely undone during the climactic battle when the transport ships from Saving Private Ryan arrive. It only gets more ludicrous when Marian arrives in battle armor with an army of wild boys who look like they wandered off the set of Lord of the Flies.

Imagine going to see Batman Begins only to discover Bruce Wayne doesn’t don the Bat-costume until the final minute of the film. Robin Hood makes us sit through a 140 minute prologue that ends at the exact moment when it should have begun.

Rating: * ½